Thread by @conspirator0

In the aftermath of the Boulder shooting, a variety of speculation about the attack made the rounds on Twitter. We categorized the tweets based on keywords used. The most common categories:

• apprehended + white
• Muslim, Syria(n), or ISIS
• Boebert

cc: @ZellaQuixote

The themes of the tweets changed over time. Tweets mentioning vaccines were common early on, but were quickly eclipsed by the apprehended+white and Boebert categories. The Muslim/Syria and Washington Post/anti-Trump categories took off after the shooter's name was released.

Retweet network for tweets prior to the announcement of the shooter's name containing "Boulder" or "Table Mesa" and one or more of the keywords we analyzed. It's almost all left-wing accounts, mostly focused on the apprehended+white and assault rifle ban/overturn categories.

The same thing, but with several hours of tweets subsequent to the announcement of the shooter's name included as well. A right-wing cluster has appeared, focused on the Muslim/Syria tweets and tweets describing the shooter as anti-Trump and reading the Washington Post.

For the sake of example, here are some collages of tweets from four of the major categories (apprehended + white, Muslim/Syria(n)/ISIS, "assault rifle ban"/overturn, and anti-Trump/Washington Post).